SMS involves the sending and receiving of short electronic messages using various equipment, over anyone of the phone networks. SMS that started out as a text message in the early 1990s had grown and its current version can include image, video, and sound. Various sources can use SMS to serve various purposes such as ordering or marketing products and services, or even to send numerous kinds of notices to mobile phone users, whose mainstay used to be snail mail, email, or voicemail showing that it had been a mass communication medium used by billions of people around the world. However, lately a variant of SMS called IM or MIM for “mobile instant messaging” is threatening to replace its worldwide usage. The major difference between the two is SMS has a cost attached to it, where the wireless service providers could offer both a limited or unlimited texting with a given package that require to have a text enabled plan.
IM does not have any cost attached to it except having an access to the Internet, which could be a public Wi-Fi. However, some cons of using IM are those who are communicating using IM are required to have account with a similar service providers such as SKYPE, for example, to exchange messages, although a few of the service providers avail some cross-communication. This means that unless one is logged into his/her particular account, it is not possible to send message, whereas MSM allows anyone who has a wireless plan to send message to other users, although they have to be in the same country, since it is a telephone service that cannot cross borders without incurring a long distance cost.
When compared to email, although the communication log might be available, it is difficult to navigate through older logs using both systems that makes them less effective. In fact, SMS even has word limit, whereas since IM is using the Internet, there is no such limit, one of the reasons that is making it popular. The other reason is, although it is not possible to zap a message to anyone who does not use a similar service, anyone who has account with SKYPE for example can exchange all kinds of messages including voice message globally making IM the most preferable communication medium among the two.
Sources such as Informa had stated that messages sent through services such as iMessage and WhatsApp have already outnumbered SMS messages and the figure stands at 19 billion messages for IM messages versus 17 billion for SMS for the year 2012. Because of that, SMS is becoming favorite for services that want to communicate with account holders to promote products or send lost emails and the like. Especially, the younger generation seems to be deserting SMS in droves, because of some of the mentioned limitations such as the cost involved, the number of words allowed, its lack of cross boarder messaging capability etc.
The outcome according to the research firm Ovum is telephone operators have already lost around $23 billion for the year to 2012 from SMS revenue revealing what a huge market it is for wireless service providers that are predicting 50 billion text messages will be sent in 2014 compared to 21 billion for the year 2013 and hope some of it would still be SMS messages. What will save the day for SMS is IM is only available on smartphone such as Nokia that has a dedicated WhatsAPP button, while many mobile phone users have no choice other than relying on SMS.
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